The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1887-10-31
GEN. JACKS0N'S SPEECH.
1T is ATTRACTING ATTENTION
THROUGHOUT THE COUNTRY.

Wis and Lincoln.
The speech which Gen. Henry r. Jackson
delivered at Macon last Wednesday has al
ready excited a great deal of comment
throughout the country. A part of it--that
referring to Lincoln and Davis-is being
misconstrued by the Republican press for
partisan purposes. Gen. jackson has ex-
planned that part of it in an interview in the
Atlanta Constitution. No political capital
can be made out of what he meant, but the
Republican papers will not take the trouble
TO explain what Gen. Jackson meant, They
will quote what he said and put their own
construction upon it. The elections are
close at hand. and the Republicans will
take care to make all the capital they can
out of it, An authorized version of the
speech will be found below. and also the in
terview They are published by request:
THE SPEECH.
CONFEDERATE VETERANs-To Illustrate the
public virtue of the Romans, which exalted
town into a nation. and nation to the rule OF
the Pagan universe, Napoleon III. made men
tion among others of the fact that instantly
upon the close Of civil war. ann -Sty, unquall'
fed was proclaimed for ALL no triumph was de,
creed to the victor leader in such strife, but all
Rome went into mourning for the gallant dead
delight may we invoke the scenes of this day TO
illustrate the startling truth that there is III
American life an imperial power more effective
for practical ends than the lofty virtue or the
Roman people in the grandest epoch of Roman
history. Where else upon earth to-day are SIM
liar scenes pos IDLE? Not in Hungary,
where KoSsnh lives! Not in Poland, where
KoSciusko fell, MOI in Ireland. though the en-
pyrean ring with the mighty muse or Glad
stones eloquence- not in the fearful land where
Emmett suffered For, to-day there stands mp
.rl n Ifcti had
sipvian who within the life of the present gen.
Grafton, was prisoner in ironS-the so-calied
traitor leader of a so-called lost cause.
We Confederate veterans rect of the armies
which fought for that cause. are here to meet
him: to move before him in the pride and pomp
of no Roman triumph, il is true, but bending
our necks to no Roman yoke OF sublugatlon.
BY invitation of the State of Georgia, speaking
through her duly empowered officials. all nave
come Behold majestic truth revealing herself
State sovereignty is not dead georgia Is a
sovereign still, and calls upon her people to glo-
nv with her to-day. Her glory is in her history;
her history is in the memory of her dead; and
this day is consecrate to her Confederate
dead. They were guilty Of no
treason to her To whom, then, could
they be traitors. Where shall we seek their
higher sovereign? Shall we find him in the
Federal constitution? Then here was sovereign
smitten to earth by traitor hands, trampled in
the dust by traitor feet; but the hands and the
feet were not theirs Do we hold that the men
who fought against them were traitors? Not at
all! not at all, They, too, were loyal TO their
sovereigns. The constitution was but treaty
most solemn, by-oath-upon- conScience-stamped
compact, it is true; and yet at last but treaty
between high contracting sovereign parties
without atom of sovereignty in itself;
Hence. with impunity, through long years OF
painful agitation, was it broken; broken
by the sovereign parties of the North.
Called oftentimes "a compact with hell,
they enacted into crime the mere attempt
of Federal power to enforce it within their do.
minions And because, after decades of
endurance as patient it was delusive, the
sovereign parties Of the South declined to &C
cept their revolutionary will in permanent place
Of the constitution, the compact-breaklng
sovereigns of the North, with numbers. over
whelmiog and material unbounded. made ag-
gressive war upon them to force them to accept
it. Simple record this; yet forever fixed in the
armament of truth Falsehood abroad. reck-
less or malignant; dalylng with the false at
home, ill-judged, cowardly or venal cannot
unfix it. As well attempt, standing upon
stool. to pluck Fixed star from heaven.
The world has been told that the people of the
South made the war to perpetuate African
slavery. This is false They did not create
that institution, nor do they now wish TO restore
it, Not that shame can attach to its memory.
False indeed. must be the historic muse to her
clearest duty, all things being fairly considered
the parties, surroundings, and reSultS-She fail
to hand it down to future times as the gentlest
and by far the most civilizing and humanizing
relationship ever horne by labor to capital.
The people of the South few to arms, not to
perpetuate, but to imperil their peculiar nstitu-
ton; not to save, but to sacrifice property in de-
tense of honor; nav to sacrifice life itself rather
than tamely submit to insolent wrong. For the
right TO govern themselves bequrathed to them
by their fathers, they were prepared TO immediate
all. The principle for which they fOught-the
only principle of government expansive enough
to meet the requirements of advancing cviZa-
ton, made Of late by GladStone's elOquence so
familiar TO European thought-wes American
born Sun of the modern as compared with the
ancient civilization: home rule as Contrasted
with Roman Capitalization it rose in the West,
and now mounts the Western armament. red
with the blood of Confederate heroes. moist
with the tears of Confederate widows and
orphans Eastward shall it continue 10 roll,
carrying with it the blessed light of the Chris
tian civilization all round the globe. And, so
surely as il moves it shall bring the day of final
triumph TO be decIeed by the mind and con
science of man TO time tested truth. In that
triumphal procession Abraham Lincoln shall not
move as the rightfu President. but jefferson
Davis, the so-caled traitor leader of a So
called lost cause" The memory of those
chains will thrill along that awful line with
power never given to mortal eoquence. In that
silent but majestic march will move THE Con
federate States of America, each wearing her
truth-studded crown of sovereignty untarnished;
Georgia bearing in her proud arms her Barlow,
her Cobb, her Walker, her blood stained
heroes unnumbered, who fell with sense Of
the coming glory uueclipsed in their souls
II this be the coming of the new South,
name which occupies the air at times, then we,
Confederate veterans. cry, new South. all hail!
Do we not, my brothers? All hail. renovated
nnon of sovereign States as planned by the
common iaJDeTS. VINO worked more wisely
than they knew" All hail, grand American re-
public of wheels within Wheel resplendent il
luminator of the modern world. We, we. too.
Confederates, can echo from our hearts and re-
echo from our heart Of hearts, the patriot cry
Of Webster the great: Thanks be to God that
l. too, am an American citizen"
But, if. the SO called new South be a base sur
render of the old, false confession--meanly
false--of shame In our past. shame in our sires,
shame in our dead, which none but the Silliest
fool can honestly feel, then, with all the power
given TO us by the God of truth we cry: Avaunt
false South, avaunt. Rottan trunk upon a
cursed root thy fruit must turn to ashes on the
lip.
THE INTERVIEW.
Before printing the conversation with
Gen. Jackson which follows, few words as
to his invitation TO Macon and his personal
relations with Mr. Davis would not be out
of place. From the Mexican war, in which
both Mr. Davis and Gen. jackson served
with distinction, there was estrangement
between these two illustrious men This
estrangement deePened during our civil
war. Both were proud and determined men,
and their estrangement, while regretted by
the friends of both, appeared TO be beyond
discussion or interference. Neither said
much about it, preferring to carry il in
silence. Gen. jackson was invited by the
committee to be present at Macon and to
deliver this address. II is testimony TO his
nobility of character that he lost in the
sight of the aged invalid, by whose side he